


In the Middle of a Very Happy Ending

by ProbablyVoldemort



Series: You Give Me Akumas [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is Too Hot, Everyone's an AKUMA, F/M, Forgetfulness, Gen, Hot-Safari-Guy!Adrien, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Identity Reveal, Marinette Can't Handle It, Ridiculous, Senior Theme Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 21:52:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8344198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProbablyVoldemort/pseuds/ProbablyVoldemort
Summary: Senior Theme Week is fast approaching.  But what happens when there's too many real akumas for Marinette to make her and Adrien's Akuma Day costumes?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a prompt fill! Unfortunately, I'm not taking any more prompts at the moment, but you can check out the rest in this series!  
> Enjoy :D

**Anonymous asked: For the writing prompts, might we have numbah 3 with aged up!Adrienette?**

**3: “This has got to be the stupidest plan you’ve ever come up with. Of course I’m in!”**

_(So I had this idea and then I saw your prompt and was like yes this is gonna work. Theme Week themes are based off my own Senior Theme Week from two years ago (except we had Superhero Day rather than the Friday theme here and we had Tacky Tourist rather than American Tourist but you know). It also got insanely long, so lucky you, anon, with your 4300 word prompt. Enjoy!)_

With the impending graduation just around the corner came a lot of things. There were the ever dreaded exams, and the stress of finding the perfect dress—and date—for prom.

And then there was Senior Theme Week.

As was the topic of this month’s grad meeting.

The graduating class was gathered in the auditorium as valedictorian-slash-head-of-the-grad-committee-slash-future-prom-queen Alya Césaire stood on stage leading the procedures.

“Alright. So we’ve got Safari Day, Grease Day, American Tourist Day, and Pyjama Day,” she ticked off, gesturing at the giant font Alix had been writing in on the whiteboard behind them. “There’s still one day left, and I’ve got a pretty good suggestion if you guys want to hear it.”

There was a general murmur of assent, but Marinette was mostly tuning out her friend’s speech. She slouched in her required front row seat, fingers idly playing with Adrien’s.

Her boyfriend leaned over. “Ten euros says its Ladybug and Chat Noir Day,” he whispered into her ear, and Marinette smirked.

“Honestly, I’m surprised she hasn’t suggested that yet,” she agreed, “so there’s no way I’m taking that bet. Dibs on Chat Noir, though.”

She could see him smirk from the corner of her eye, but didn’t dare tear her gaze from Alya, knowing the lecture she’d get later for not paying attention.

“I dunno,” Adrien mumbled, his face still close to hers. “I think I’d make a pretty hot Ladybug. The people might call for a permanent switch-up, my Lady.”

Marinette snorted and shoved him away, tuning back in as Alya finally announced her suggestion.

“Akuma Day!” Alya actually looked really excited, and Marinette lamented the loss of the ten euros she would have won had she taken Adrien’s bet. “Like, we all come to school dressed up like we were when we were akumas and just scare the shit—”

“Alya, language,” Mme. Bustier, the unlucky staff member to be picked to chaperone the grad committee, said from her place at the back of the stage.

“Sorry, Mme. B,” Alya apologized, shooting the teacher an innocent grin. “Scare the poop out of all the rest of the students by making them think Papillon has sent us out en masse. It’d be hilarious.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, standing up. She hated to be the one to burst Alya’s bubble but…

“There’s no possible way that everyone in our grad class has been akumas, Al,” she pointed out, putting on her Ladybug Voice so the whole auditorium could hear. “I don’t know how you think this is going to work.”

But Alya just laughed, waving a hand at her friend. “Did you forget that I run the Ladyblog, Marinette?” she asked. “Do you really think I don’t have a list of every single akuma? Or that I didn’t cross check it with the grad class?”

“But it’s impossible!” Marinette insisted. “Do you realize how crazy it sounds to insist that every single person here has been an akuma?”

“Fine.” Alya rolled her eyes. “Anyone who’s been an akuma, stay sitting. Anyone who hasn’t, please stand up.”

And, with that, she sunk onto the stage, crossing her legs and staring pointedly at her friend. Alix collapsed less daintily behind her, and Mme. Bustier stayed in her seat.

In fact, Marinette noticed as she stared around the room incredulously, everyone stayed seated. Except, of course, Adrien, who rose at her side.

“What the fuck,” she muttered under her breath. How the hell had all one hundred and sixty some odd people in their graduating class been akumatized at some point?

“We’ve…we can’t have fought them all,” Adrien whispered, staring at Marinette with the same disbelief she was feeling.

“See?” Alya called from the stage, a smug grin on her face as she stood once more. “Literally everyone here’s been an akuma.”

“I haven’t,” Adrien pointed out, raising a hand.

“Me neither,” Marinette agreed.

Alya’s grin faltered as she stood, squinting at them. “Yes, you have,” she argued. “You two have to have been akumas. Our entire class got akumatized when we were fifteen. You must have been.”

They both shook their heads, ignoring the shocked whispers around them. How was it that it was stranger that they hadn’t been akumatized than that literally everyone else in their grade had been?

“What were we akumatized as, then, oh Great and Powerful Alya,” Adrien was saying, smirking at how Alya floundered for a minute. “You should really remember your best friends’ villainous alter egos.”

Alya opened and closed her mouth for a little while longer, before staring at them in disbelief. “What the hell,” she breathed, the microphone echoing her words. “How have you not been akumatized?”

Marinette just shrugged, sinking back into her chair. Pointing out that they hadn’t been akumatized because they were superheroes during a grad meeting wasn’t exactly the best plan.

“How’s this going to work then?” Adrien asked, returning to his own seat. “Should Mari and I make up akumas?”

“I have a suggestion.”

Alix jumped off the stage with a spare microphone, and, as was Alix’s style, half-bodysurfed-half-climbed-over the students until she reached Sabrina somewhere in the middle of the room.

“What’s your suggestion?” Alya asked.

Sabrina glanced at Chloe beside her for a moment before accepting the microphone from Alix. “What if Marinette and Adrien dressed up as Ladybug and Chat Noir?” she said. “I mean, they’re always late anyway, so, like, we could freak everyone out with our akuma costumes and then Ladybug and Chat Noir show up to save the day.”

Alya grinned, and Marinette knew her fate was sealed. “Fabulous idea.”

“I still dibs Chat Noir,” Marinette told Adrien quietly, and he nodded in agreement. There was no arguing with Alya when she got an idea in her head, but they couldn’t risk their identities with Papillon still out there.

Chloe pulled the microphone out of Sabrina’s hands. “I’ll handle costumes,” she said. “I know a guy who can make them amazing and fast. Message me with your measurements and the name of your akuma, and he can get them done.”

Marinette was surprised that she hadn’t insisted on being Ladybug, but, then again, Chloe’s attitude had improved a lot over the years, and she was slightly more than tolerable. Maybe it was the fact that Adrien had started dating Marinette over her. Maybe she realized that her actions were indirectly causing her to get attacked by supervillains. Maybe it was Nathanael. Nobody really knew, but the point still stood. Chloe was a decent human being.

Who would have guessed?

But back to Alya, who, by this point, had reclaimed the floor. “Anyone here opposed to Akuma Day?” she asked. No one spoke. “Anyone opposed to having Marinette and Adrien, our incredibly talented classmates who somehow never attracted Papillon’s attention—” Marinette had to snort at that, making eye contact with her boyfriend. Little did Alya know that they had actually attracted a lot more attention from Papillon than everyone else in the room combined. “—be our Ladybug and Chat Noir?” Again, no one spoke up, and the deal was set. “We’ve got our theme week guys! Just a reminder: no one outside the grad class can know the themes, and please remember to send your measurements to Chloe for Akuma Day!”

*********

Theme Week was fast approaching, and Marinette had most of her costumes finished weeks before. In fact, as the week before came to a close, the only costumes she had left to make were her and Adrien’s Ladybug and Chat Noir ones, as Adrien had managed to convince Chloe that Marinette could make their Akuma Day costumes herself.

Alya was not entirely thrilled that Marinette was dressing as Chat Noir and Adrien as Ladybug—“It’ll ruin the flow, guys. Come on. You two actually look like you could be them. It’d be way more authentic and great.”—but there really wasn’t much she could do unless she took over costume making from Marinette. An act which was unanimously decided to be a bad idea.

No one else really seemed to care who was Ladybug and who was Chat Noir.

But back to the costumes. Akuma Day wasn’t until the Friday, so Marinette had lots of time to get the costumes finished.

Of course, she wasn’t expecting to fight three akumas that weekend alone.

*********

Marinette had to drag herself out of bed Monday morning, shoving a still-half-asleep Adrien out the skylight with the promise of snacks once they made it to school. She then threw on her Safari Day outfit—complete with binoculars around her neck and a wide-brimmed hat over the return of her pigtails—and stuffed a croissant down her throat. She collected the animal themed snacks her parents had made the night before, and was quickly trudging her way down the street, trying not to fall asleep in the middle of a crosswalk.

“Marinette! You look adorable!”

She grinned at Alya, who was dressed in faux fur and tiger stripes, as her friend made her way down the stairs at the front of the school.

“You too!” she said. “But aren’t we supposed to be dressed like we’re going on a safari?”

Alya waved a hand, adjusting her eared headband. “Please, Mari. You can’t have a safari unless you’ve got animals to be safari-ing.”

Marinette laughed, adjusting the box of cookies on her hip. “I don’t think safari is a verb,” she pointed out, but Alya just waved a hand.

“Anything’s a verb if you try hard enough.”

Marinette was saved from having to argue with that logic by Nino appearing and wrapping his girlfriend up in a kiss. He seemed to have followed the same logic as Alya—or had been told by Alya what he would be dressing as, which was, honestly, the more likely option—and was dressed in something blue and sparkly, with peacock feathers rising behind him.

“You being safari-ed, too?” she asked when they finally pulled apart.

Alya high fived her friend, but Nino shot her a look. “Safari isn’t a verb,” he told her, and Marinette just rolled her eyes.

“You’re not a verb,” Alya shot back with all the grace of a scorned five year old, and Nino feigned looking hurt.

It was then that Adrien’s limo pulled up, and the boy himself emerged looking like he took the wrong turn to a photoshoot. Of course, he always looked like that, and, if Marinette remembered correctly, his outfit _had_ come from a photoshoot. His sand coloured pants were tucked into boots, and his green shirt hugged his figure just right without being too tight, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and more buttons undone than usual to show off his chest. He turned after closing the door, flicking his hair and swinging up his appropriately themed brown leather bag over his shoulder, and Marinette had to grip Alya’s arm to keep from swooning like she was fourteen again.

The god that was her boyfriend made his way to them as Marinette tried to restart her heart and Alya and Nino laughed at her, and leaned against the wall.

“Can you stop?” Marinette finally asked, and Adrien just blinked at her, pushing his sunglasses onto his head.

“What?”

“Doing this.” She gestured at his whole body, and he just raised a stupidly attractive eyebrow. “Stop posing for, like, five seconds. Unless you want me to have a heart attack and die, and leave you with no girlfriend and the guilt of knowing you killed me.”

Nino and Alya’s laughter grew, and Adrien just smirked at her, unconsciously shifting into an even more attractive pose against the wall. Which, well, that just wasn’t fair, honestly. Did he really have to be so hot?

Thankfully, the bell rang, saving her from having to stare at his stupid face any longer. Alya and Nino took off ahead and Adrien slipped an arm around her shoulders, sunglasses back in place.

“I’m liking the revival of the pigtails,” he said, tugging gently on one for emphasis. “I haven’t seen them on you in a while.”

Marinette snorted, swatting his hand away. “Ladybug still wears pigtails,” she pointed out, but Adrien just shrugged.

“Yeah, but Marinette hasn’t worn pigtails in years.” He pressed a kiss against her cheek, and she supposed she could forgive him for his ridiculously attractive…everything. “It’s cute.”

*********

She groaned, slamming her face into her desk as screams tore through the air. Which was a stupid idea, really, because now she’d have to go fight it with a massive headache and possibly a concussion.

But, really. This akuma couldn’t have had worse timing. Class was almost over for the day, and she should have had the afternoon free to start on their Akuma Day costumes.

Clearly, Papillon had different plans, with an akuma that turned people into animals keeping her occupied until well after dinner. By that point, her dinner date with Adrien had changed course, but at least it meant her parents wouldn’t be worried about where she was.

Akuma finally cleansed, Marinette dragged herself back into her house. Her parents asked questions about her date, she knew they did, but she wouldn’t have been able to tell you what her answers were even if it was the key to saving Paris and defeating Papillon.

She collapsed into bed, barely stirring when Adrien joined her an hour or so later, just as exhausted as she was.

*********

American Tourist Tuesday and Pyjama Wednesday followed much of the same pattern. Wake up. Make sure Adrien left with enough time to get back before anyone noticed he was gone. Get dressed in whatever costume was necessary. Go to school. Complain about how unnecessary attractive Adrien looked in his costume. Fight an akuma. Get home and fall into bed. Let Adrien in when he showed up. Fall asleep, and repeat.

Other than the fact that Papillon was sending out a ridiculous amount of akuma, it was a fairly standard week.

Until Grease Thursday hit like a frying pan to the face.

It was second period. Marinette was dressed in her pink poodle skirt and saddle shoes. Adrien was looking unfairly delectable in his greaser clothes, with his hair slicked back and a leather jacket that almost made his girlfriend call him the wrong name more than once. Nino was dressed as a nerd, and Alya was rocking the Rizzo look, complete with a Pink Ladies jacket. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping.

And a car drove through the classroom windows.

At least, it looked like the car drove through. In reality, it was probably thrown. Or kicked. Or something.

The akuma itself wasn’t too hard to beat, in all honesty. Marinette and Adrien were back in class before they were missed—though with some sideways looks, since the entire class thought they used the akuma attacks to sneak off and make out.

No. It was what came after. It was the breaking news that evening, as Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino sat in Alya’s living room eating dinner. It was the words that flashed across the screen.

_Papillon sighted near the Eiffel Tower. Citizens warned to stay away._

Of course, a warning like that was an invitation to Alya, who took off with Nino to go film the impending battle. Marinette held her breath, looking at Adrien with wide eyes.

This was it.

This was the day they’d defeat Papillon.

*********

Marinette sunk back against the wall of the alley they’d hidden in, gripping Adrien’s arm tightly as their transformations dropped.

It was over.

It was done.

They’d defeated Papillon.

They’d actually done what they’d set out to do four years ago.

And they’d won.

She was sure this should be a happy moment. They should be out celebrating. But, honestly, all she wanted to do was sleep for about a month, and it seemed Adrien had the same idea.

He was taking the fact that they’d just put his estranged uncle into the back of a police car pretty well, all things considered, but the fact that they’d fought seven akumas since Saturday and then Papillon himself was leaving him with about as little energy as her.

“I don’t want to walk home,” she whispered, and Adrien nodded in agreement, pulling them both to the ground.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling out his cellphone and calling Nathalie. She listened to the rise and fall of his voice, and slowly drifted off.

*********

They were in his car when she woke, pressed up against his side. He smiled sleepily down at her, pushing her bangs off her forehead. They sat in silence for the drive, and then Adrien helped her into her house.

After fielding questions from her parents about where she was and why she was out so late and why she wasn’t answering her phone—“Alya made us come watch the attack and then we couldn’t get back and I accidentally left my phone at her place”—the second part of which was not actually a lie—she was finally able to collapse into bed, where Adrien had already fallen asleep waiting.

*********

The alarm blared and Marinette grumbled, smacking at it. Adrien curled closer to her side, and she very much did not want to get up. Getting up would mean going to school, where she’d have to concentrate on _things_ and probably have to fight an akuma because Papillon was a piece of—

She sat up, suddenly awake.

“Adrien. Adrien, wake up.” Her boyfriend just groaned, burying his face under her pillow. She poked him in the back. “Adrien, I need to ask you something.” He mumbled something unintelligible, but Marinette decided to take it as permission to ask. “Did we actually defeat Papillon last night, or was that a weird dream?”

It took a moment before Adrien shot up, staring at her with wide eyes.

“We did it,” he said, voice awed and a smile breaking out on his face. “We actually did it, Mari. He’s gone.”

She grinned back, pressing a kiss to his lips. They’d been waiting for this moment for four years. They deserved to celebrate. Maybe they could skip out on school and spend the day running around the city and dropping in on fans.

_“Marinette! You’re going to be late!”_

She sighed. Or they could do that after school, and this weekend. Really, they had all the time in the world now.

She kissed him again, swinging out of bed. “I’ll see you at school, Kitty.”

But Adrien just followed her down the ladder. “I need my costume first.”

And she froze, turning to stare at him.

“You…you didn’t make them, did you?” he asked.

“I was going to!” Marinette insisted, flinging her arms wide. “But then Papillon kept sending akumas and I was just so exhausted, and oh my god, Adrien, what are we going to do? We can’t show up without costumes, and Alya will kill us if we skip and—”

“We’ve got costumes,” Adrien interrupted, holding his hand in front of his face and waggling his fingers to emphasize his ring. “Who cares if they figure us out? Papillon’s in jail. The danger’s gone. And, like you said, Alya’s going to kill us if we show up without costumes.”

Marinette shot him a deadpanned look, though her thoughts were running over his idea again and again, trying to find a flaw. Chances were no one would even notice that they were the real heroes. And, like Adrien said, who really cared anymore if they did?

“This has got to be the stupidest plan you’ve ever come up with,” she told him, and his face fell. She let a smirk grow over her face. “Of course I’m in!”

*********

Walking to school was interesting to say the least. The stares she got from being Ladybug walking down the street with a backpack and a box of cookies were more than she could count.

All eyes were on her as she approached the school.

“I thought we defeated Papillon last night,” she said, loudly and in an awful impression of herself, the hand not holding the cookies finding a home on her hip. “What’s with all the akumas?”

There was a peal of squealed laughter, and Alya was tearing down the stairs with Nino on her heels.

“What happened to switching it up?” she asked, blinking quickly in the way she always did when she wore her contacts. Of course, her glasses would have ruined the whole Lady Wifi look. “Not that I’m complaining. You look amazing, girl. This suit almost looks authentic! Where’s your cat at?”

“Right here.”

The voice sounded right behind her, and both Alya and Nino jumped as Adrien made his way around them, leaning to wrap his arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

“Looking purr-ty as always, my Lady,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek and sending a wink at their friends. “Lady Wifi. Bubbler. I was paws-itive we defeated you years ago.”

“God, are you going to be punning all day?” Marinette screwed up her face, removing Adrien’s arm from her shoulder. “See, this is why I wanted to be Chat Noir. We’d have a punless day, and everything would be great.”

Adrien pressed a hand to his heart. “You wound me, my Lady. You’d dare to be un-paw-thentic? Chat Noir would be disappointed in you.”

“Hold up!” Nino raised his hands, staring between the two of them. “Are you sure you’re not really Ladybug and Chat Noir? Because you’ve definitely gotten way too into character.”

Alya grabbed Adrien’s arm before either had a chance to speak, running her fingers over the material. “I can’t believe you made these, Mari,” she gushed. “They are freaking good. Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d ripped the costumes right off Ladybug and Chat Noir’s backs. I mean, I would be surprised because that would be a completely insane thing to do, but you get my point. These are fantastic.”

“Yup,” Marinette said, shuffling the box of cookies to her other arm. “I definitely made them myself.”

The bell rang and they started into the school. Marinette could feel the stares of other students, like they were trying to figure out if she and Adrien were really the superheroes or not.

“Oh!” Alya cried. “Speaking of Ladybug and Chat Noir, did you see the fight against Papillon last night?”

Marinette grinned at Adrien, and couldn’t resist fist bumping him.

“I can’t believe they finally did it!” Nino added, pumping a fist in the air.

Adrien wrapped an arm around her again, and she cuddled into his chest as they followed their friends in silence. This was a day to celebrate. Papillon was gone, and akumas were nothing more than costumes now. Silly costumes to dress up in and pretend.

They reached the classroom where their classmates were gathered, and Marinette and Adrien were flocked once more. Marinette rolled her eyes as Adrien fired off pun after pun, and sunk into her seat beside Alya.

It was only a couple of minutes before Mme. Bustier came in, congratulating everyone on their costumes.

“In light of last night’s events, today’s theme seems more than a little relevant,” she said, grinning at the class. “Since today is Friday anyway, in celebration of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s victory over Papillon, today’s class will be a free work period, and you can do whatever you like. Within reason,” she quickly added, eyeing Kim and Alix.

*********

Second period with Mme. Mendeleiv was looking to be less fun, considering work was still going to happen.

“Alright,” she said, tapping on the desk and the class quietened down. “I think you’ve all caused enough trouble in my class with those costumes, so, since I can’t see some of your eyes, all masks need to come off.”

There was a lot of grumbling, but, within a minute or so, everyone had either removed their masks or pushed them up on their head.

Everyone, that is, except for Marinette and Adrien.

Marinette met her boyfriend’s questioning eyes and shrugged. He seemed to be in agreement.

Mme. Mendeleiv sent them a death glare. “Everyone includes the two of you, Dupain-Cheng and Agreste.”

“It’s actually Bug and Noir today,” Adrien said, and Marinette had to physically keep herself from reaching across the desk to slap him. Why was he talking back to the teacher? Why did he think that was a good idea? “I’d paws-itively love to re-meow-ve my mask, Mme. M, but I just cat.”

“It’s just not gonna happen,” Marinette agreed, leaning forward on her stool and ignoring the look incredulous look Alya was giving her. “I mean, Lady Wifi here tried, and that didn’t get her anywhere.”

“It’s im-paw-sible,” Adrien added with a smirk.

Nino rolled his eyes. “I told you, man. You two are way too in character. Just take off the stupid masks.”

“We’re not kitten,” Adrien insisted, tapping his claws on the desk. “It’s not gonna happen.”

“It _will_ happen.” Mme. Mendeleiv sounded angry, looming over the desk to glare at the two students who dared to ignore her requests. “And it will happen _now_ , or you’ll be heading to the principal’s office.”

Marinette and Adrien made eye contact, shrugging as grins stretched across their faces.

“If you insist,” Marinette said, taking a deep breath.

“Claws in!”

“Spots off!”

The rest of the school assumed an akuma had attacked Mme. Mendeleiv’s senior chemistry class from the screaming that came from it, and only rushed in to help when they remembered that Papillon had been defeated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Comments are life and asks are golden!  
> Hit me up on Tumblr at probably-voldemort :D


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